Four behavioural syndromes of schizophrenia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A complementary approach to defining symptomatic subtypes of schizophrenia is to identify characteristic patterns of 'problem behaviours' associated with the capacity of patients to function in the community. METHOD: In a large epidemiological survey, patients fulfilling Feighner criteria for schizophrenia were identified by key informants and assessed using the MRC Social Behaviour Schedule (SBS) and the Manchester Scale. An exploratory factor analysis was used to extract behavioural syndromes from the SBS data in order to compare the syndrome profiles in community, acute and long-stay subgroups and to examine their associations with symptoms and social functioning. RESULTS: Fou..